Multiver-City One: 2000 AD Prog 1960 – Where’s The Justice In That?

Welcome, citizens, to this week’s installment of Multiver-City One! Every Wednesday we examine the latest offerings from Tharg and the droids over at 2000 AD, the galaxy’s leading producers of Thrill-Power entertainment! Between the weekly “2000 AD” itself, the monthly “Judge Dredd Megazine”, an extensive library of graphic novel collections, and new US-format one-shots and mini-series, they have decades of zarjaz comics for you to enjoy.

There’s a brand-new Prog out this week, so after a quick public service announcement we’ll jump right into the Thrills!

I. AN EARTHLET’S GUIDE TO 2000 AD

We understand that having such a large selection of comics to choose from can make knowing where to start with 2000 AD seem daunting. What do they publish? Where can I get it? What’s up with Judge Dredd? Can I still read “2000 AD” if I don’t like Judge Dredd?

So to help new & potential readers, we’ve put together An Earthlet’s Guide to 2000 AD. This FAQ collects everything you need to make your initial foray into the 2000 AD Thrill-verse as simple as possible.

II. THIS WEEK IN PROG 1960

Cover by Brendan McCarthy

NOW DEPARTING

Judge Dredd: The Beating, Part 3

Oh man, this one got all types of twisty at the end!

Wagner and Goddard have done a hell of a job with this strip. A scathing satire, to be sure, ‘The Beating’ gives readers not just a fair amount to chew on, but it also gave us all some fantastic art to look at. Goddard has done a magnificent job all the way through this story, but this final chapter was really something else. His ink work is so bold and gloopy, there are panels that appear to still be wet. And his interpretation of Dredd is a new favorite, with his deep frown lines and collection of scars covering the only exposed part of his face. And to make things even better, Goddard was paired with the perfect colorist in Adam Brown. Just look at the panels above! Brown’s color suits the weight of Goddard’s pages perfectly, while adding his own flourishes that help convey things like space and texture.

There are a couple of turns in this chapter, and I don’t want to spoil them. That said, I can’t help but feel that Wagner went out of his way to set up a few things that’ll pay off down the line.

Credits: John Wagner (script), Patrick Goddard (art), Adam Brown (colors), Annie Parkhouse (letters)

Defoe: The Hanged, Part 11

We’ve seen Defoe go up against reeks and come out victorious. We’ve even seen him take on a Vizard and make it out in one piece. But both? At the same time? In Leigh Gallagher’s last ‘Defoe’ story? I dunno…

This week brings us another double-sized installment that also wraps up the ‘Hanged’ story that’s been running since Prog 1950. The Resurrectionist has been revealed and the fit has hit the shan, so to speak (or is that just Gallowgrass standing upwind?). I’m going to go into some mild spoilers so skip down past the next divider if you want to avoid them.

As I’ve mentioned in previous weeks, it seems like there’s a kind of spiritual kinship between this strip and ‘Savage’, one of Pat Mills’s other long-running serials. Both have protagonists dealing with class issues, but also are based on premises (zombies for ‘Defoe’ and invasion/counter-insurgency for ‘Savage’) that can burn out an audience if used for too long. Having breaks between installments help, certainly, but how many times can Defoe be pulled back into service for ANOTHER reek uprising before readers start asking, “Again?!”.

So just as we saw a shift in the last ‘Savage’ story with the Volgans leaving Britain, we are (possibly) seeing a shift away from reeks and into different targets for Defoe. Someone on the 2000 AD forums this week mused that we might be seeing Defoe put on an S&M mask and wrap some barb wire around his bicep in the next strip if Kevin O’Neill comes in to replace Leigh Gallagher (a nice “Marshal Law” reference), but it does feel like Mills is pushing Defoe into that kind of territory. Not only just by having him kill Carrion Killer and John Evelyn, but also by just about 90% of his dialogue in the last half of ‘Hanged’ being references to pseudo-heroes and the like. Plus, you don’t introduce a plot shotgun like the aetheric shield as an anti-Vizard device and not gave it go off again at some point. And I think Mills has successfully laid the groundwork for such a series shift, but whether he executes it with “Marshal Law” bombast or “Charley’s War” precision remains to be seen. Or he could be going in a completely different direction…we’ll just gave to wait & see.

Continued below

What we won’t be seeing is Leigh Gallagher doing the strip any more. Gallagher has done all six installments up to this point, so seeing someone else tackling Defoe will be weird, to say the least. Plus he raised the bar in terms of depicting gruesomeness with detail and weight. Those skills have served him well on other strips like ‘Aquila’, but ‘Defoe’ is where he’s shone brightest. Here’s hoping we get to see his next project soon!

As for Defoe, maybe Mills is planning to ship him off to the New World as a kind of Witness Protection after he kills off the rest of the Vizards. I hear San Francisco would be a nice place to raise a family (for his grandkids, given the timeline)…

Credits: Pat Mills (script), Leigh Gallagher (art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)

Terror Tales: Why Did The Priest Cross The Road?

Another one-off story this week so I won’t go into too much detail so as not to spoil the little guy for you. I will say right up front that I could see this tale getting a sequel REALLY easily. David Baillie racks up another successful done-in-one just a few weeks after ‘The Crow Gifts’; this one follows a priest looking into a recent rash of suicides. Again, satisfying as this is on its own, I could definitely see a followup (hint, hint, Tharg?).

But only if Baillie was teamed up with Marshall again. We’ve seen his work with Guy Adams on ‘Ulysses Sweet’ and the Dredd arc ‘Cascade’ from around this time last year, but I think he’s hit a new stride with this short. Or maybe Baillie just brings that out in his collaborators, because Joshua George was pretty on-point with his work on ‘Crow’ as well. Marshall’s linework is as tight as ever here, but he’s incorporating more pencil or wash touches to bring a slight haze or absence of definition where appropriate. And with this story’s mystical bent, it’s appropriate in a lot of panels, so seeing him balance its usage well against his well- defined line is a good thing. Plus, there’s a really creepy panel that feels straight out of a Davis- or Totleben-era Johnny Bates. You’ll know it when you see it.

Credits: David Baillie (script), Paul Marshall (art), Ellie de Ville (letters)

Bad Company: First Casualties, Part 11

Things have gotten real for Bad Company. Realer than they’ve been for a long time!

This week’s strip finally breaks it’s silence to show us what the truth is. What really happened on Ararat, and who exactly did what. It’s not good news for anyone; not for Bad Company, not for the government, and not for the citizens who are attending the Victory On Ararat Day celebration. So what happens then the Company returns home with news of wrong doing? Of the deception the government committed in order to declare war?

Well, like I said: things have gotten real!

Credits: Peter Milligan (script), Rufus Dayglo & Jim McCarthy (art), Simon Bowland (letters)

III. 2000 AD…A-B-C-D!

There are a lot of ways to find out about the 2000 AD Thrill-Verse. Since you’re reading this column, you’ve already chosen (IMHO) one of the best ways to build your Thrill knowledge each & every week as we go through each Prog & Megazine as they go from Tharg’s Nerve Centre to your eyeballs or e-readers. But there are Tharg-sanctioned methods you can use to supplement your Multiver-City One experience. The most recent of those is the 2000 AD A-B-C!

Hosted by PR droid Molch-R wearing his fleshy hume suit, these 2-3 minute videos are great ways to find out about new Thrills and refresh your memory about ones you might have forgotten about. You might be thinking such a vid series would be 26 episodes and done, but you’d be wrong! Tharg’s universe is vast & mighty, with this series reflecting that expanse; eight episodes in and they aren’t even out of the “A” section yet!

Here’s what’s been released so far:

So as you can see, A-B-C is hitting every highpoint on the way from ABC Warriors to Zenith, as well as giving you reading recommendations along the way. We’ll keep checking back to see how the progress us continuing, but you can also subscribe to the 2000 AD YouTube channel at any of those links to follow along at your own pace.

That’s gonna do it for us this week! “2000 AD” Prog 1960 is on sale this week and available from: